Over the past few years, it has become more popular for content on the web to be fee based. Napster was shut down, and iTunes rose to glory soon after. Soon, parts of the NY Times will become pay-per-view.
Access to scholarly journals has always seemed to live in this world of "pay-for-play". Recently, a guest speaker mentioned a seemingly innovative collection of publications controlled by The Berkeley Electronic Press. The articles published in these journals are all peer-reviewed, and available for access by anyone with a computer!!
The publishing guidelines vary between journals, and although I can't comment on all the publications, the International Journal of Biostatistics has some unique policies regarding submission. Like all journals, it charges the authors a price for publication of a paper. However, the author has the option to waive the cost of publishing in exchange for a reviewing others' paper submissions and can actually earn 'publication' credits for reviewing papers.
Furthermore, the paper prides itself on being expedient in its review. There is a 21 day limit on the reviewer to review the paper and provide a response to the author or it will actually cost the reviewer money!!! Along with this focus on expediency, the journal also does not have any requirements on text formatting, which means that the authors are able use the style they deem most efficient at getting their message across.
Lastly, the authors retain the right to post their work on their personal websites as a not only an additional resource for the web-going public, but allows an easy way for a author to showcase their work.
Personally, I think this concept is really cool. It allows for the conveyance of important information in a rapid manner that allows the author some authority as to the dissemination of their work. I have no idea on how the quality of this journal compares to other statistical journals, but if one person was able to use the publicly accessible information to advance the field, I think that it's a victory for open information on the web. Furthermore, the introduction of open-web/public contribution concepts with traditional academic publishing in a journal-like setting could in time threaten the established practices in which the journals operate.
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I'm a bit jealous of no requirements for text formatting. It's amazing how archaic some editorial practices are of even cutting edge journals.
ReplyDeleteAlso check out the BioMed Central journals and Public Library of Science journals for other examples of open-access science. It's good stuff.